Dead Sea Bromine produces as much as 30 percent of world output of methyl bromide, which it exports to Europe, Africa, the United States and China. However, very little information is available on this Israeli transnational corporation.

Ninety percent of Dead Sea Bromine's shares are owned by Israel Chemicals, formerly a state-owned enterprise and now a private holding company for as many as 21 corporations. Israeli entreprepeneur Shoul Eisenberg owns 25 percent of Israel Chemicals.

Dead Sea Bromine, in turn, owns a number of subsidiaries, including Ameribrom and Eurobrom, through which it markets its bromine products, including methyl bromide. In the US, Ameribrom is one of four companies that are permitted to produce or distribute methyl bromide under Clean Air Act restrictions.[1]

Domestic Effects

No information is available on Dead Sea's direct environmental impacts. However, it is interesting to note that the night before the sale of Israel Chemicals to Shoul Eisenberg, the Israeli Knesset passed a law exempting some of Israel Chemical's subsidiaries from building, planning and environmental laws in future projects.[2]

Globalizing the Problem

Dead Sea Bromine appears to be playing a leading role in spreading methyl bromide supply to, and promoting agricultural production in the Third World. Developing and expanding these markets is in the interests of corporations like Dead Sea, Albemarle and
Great Lakes, since methyl bromide may well be phased-out at a much slower pace in these countries. Reports from countries like Jordan, Kenya and China place Dead Sea at the center of these globalization strategies.

Endnotes

Office of Air and Radiation, "Methyl Bromide Consumption Estimates," U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, August 7, 1995.